The Thomas of Cana copper plates (Malayalam: Knai Thoma Cheppedu), or Knanaya copper plates, dated variously between 345 C.E. and 811 C.E., are a lost set of copper-plate grants issued by the unidentified Chera/Perumal king of Kerala "Co-qua-rangon" to Syriac Christian merchants led by Knai Thoma (anglicized as Thomas of Cana) in the city of "Makotayar Pattinam" (present day Kodungallur), south India.D'Aguiar, Rev. J. Monteiro. 'The Magna Carta of St. Thomas Christians', K. S. P., no. 4, p. 172 and 195.Indian Antiquary, LVI, 1927, p. 148. The royal charters were reportedly engraved in ”Malabar”, syriac and Arabic on both sides of two copper plates (joined by a ring). Archbishop Francis Ros notes in his 1604 account M.S. ADD 9853 that the plates were taken to Portugal by the Franciscan Order.

Scholar M.G.S. Narayanan tentatively identifies king “Co-qua-rangon” with king Rama Rajasekhara (Co-qua-rangon → Ko Kotai Iraman → Rajadhiraja Rama) of the 9th century Chera Empire.

The Knanaya or the people of Knai Thoma were historically associated with the southern portion of the Chera/Perumal headquarters Kodungallur until in 1524 they were dispersed from the city due to conflict between the Kingdom of Cochin and the Kingdom of Calicut. The plate was cherished by the Knanaya as evidence of their arrival in Kerala under the leadership of Knai Thoma as well as a notation of the historical, economic, and social rights bestowed upon them by the Chera Perumal. The native Christian tradition places the arrival of Thomas of Cana in 345 C.E.

Translations of the existing Kollam Syrian Plates of the 9th century made by the Syrian Christian priest Ittimani in 1601 as well as the French Indologist Abraham Anquetil Duperron in 1758 both note that one of the plates mentioned a brief of the arrival of Knai Thoma. It is believed that this was a notation of the previous rights bestowed upon the Christians by Cheraman Perumal. The contemporary set however does not mention this paragraph and is believed to be incomplete or a later inscription. Scholar of Early Christian history István Percvel theorizes that at one time the Kollam Syrian plates and the Thomas of Cana plates were re-engraved together as a single unified grant.

History Origins and traditions The Thomas of Cana copper plates feature heavily in the history and traditions of the Knanaya community in Kerala. According to the community's traditional origins, Thomas of Cana, a Syrian merchant led a group of 72 Jewish-Christian immigrant families, a bishop named Uraha Mar Yausef, and clergymen from the Middle East to settle in Cranganore, India in the 4th century (some sources place these events as late as the 9th century). This event may reflect a historical migration of East Syrian Christians to India around this time, which established the region's relationship with the Church of the East. The Knanaya claim descent from Thomas of Cana and his followers. Elements of the Thomas of Cana story feature in ancient songs as well as the Thomas of Cana copper plates These plates are said to have granted Thomas' followers 72 social, economic, and religious rights from Cheraman Perumal, the Chera king.

16th-17th century records of the plates The first written record of the Thomas of Cana copper plates dates to the 16th century when Portuguese officials in Kerala took notice of the plates and their later disappearance. During this time period the plates were in the possession of Mar Jacob, the Chaldean bishop of the city of Cranganore. Due to an altercation between the Zamorin of Calicut and the Kingdom of Cochin, the homes and churches of the Knanaya community were set aflame and destroyed in 1524. Cranganore had a Knanaya township and three churches namely of St. Mary, St. Kuriakose, and St. Thomas in southern Cranganore which, according to tradition, were built by Thomas of Cana when the community arrived in India. The battle destroyed the entire township and caused the community to disperse from the city to other settlements. The event is noted in the Knanaya folk song "Innu Nee Njangale Kaivitto Marane" or "Have You Forgotten Us Today Oh Lord?". Due to this great calamity Mar Jacob had the plates later deposited with a pawnbroker as security.D'Aguiar, Rev. J. Monteiro. "The Magna Carta of St. Thomas Christians", K. S. P., no. 4, p. 172 and 195.

In 1566, Portuguese official Damio De Goes records that the Thomas of Cana copper plate grant was given to the Portuguese treasurer Pero De Sequeia by the Chaldean Bishop of Cranganore Mar Jacob in 1549 for safekeeping. Treasurer Pero De Sequeia then took the plates to the Portuguese governor of India Martim Afonso De Sousa who ordered the local people to translate the contents of the plates. To the Governor's dismay, none of the local people could interpret the language of antiquity on the plates. However, the Portuguese eventually came into contact with a Cochin Jewish linguist who De Goes expresses was "versed in many languages".Governor De Sousa sent the plates to the Jewish linguist with orders from the King of Cochin to interpret and translate its contents.

The linguist translated the contents of the plates and stated that they contained social, economic, and religious rights given to Thomas of Cana by a local ruler and were written in three languages, namely "Chaldean, Malabar, and Arabic". De Goes notes that physically the plates were "of fine metal each one palm and a half long and four fingers broad, written on both sides, and strung together at the top with a thick copper wire".The Cochin Jew returned the plates to the Portuguese, who then had his Malayalam description of the plates translated to the Portuguese language in a written copy. This copy was later sent by treasurer Pero De Sequeia to Portuguese King John III. After this point of time, the physical plates were kept by Pero De Sequeia and his successor as treasures at the Portuguese depot in Cochin. The account of De Sequeia and translation of the plates are found in the Portuguese work Decada VII as well as some other Portuguese works.

In 1602 Portuguese priest Fr. Antonio De Gouvea notes that the Thomas of Cana copper plate grant which had been kept safe at the Portuguese factory of Cochin was by this point lost due to the "carelessness" of the Portuguese themselves. De Gouvea states that the loss of the plates had greatly angered the Knanaya, who had no other written record of their history and rights to defend themselves from local kings who by this point were infringing on their position.

In 1603–1604 Archbishop Francis Ros made a more complete translation of the context of the Thomas of Cana copper plate grant from an existing olla copy (palm-leaf manuscript). The physical manuscript of Ros' Portuguese translation is archived at the British Library as title MS. Add. 9853. Ros notes also that the plates were taken to Portugal by Franciscans.

The final record of the plates comes from the official historian of Portuguese India Diogo do Couto in 1611.De Couto, Diogo, Decada VII. Liv. I. Cap. II & Decada XII. Liv. III. Cap. V. Do Couto claims to have seen the plates and makes an incomplete translation of its content. De Couto's translation can be found in his text Decada XII.

Early sources A number of 16th and early 17th century sources from the Portuguese era record witnessing and or physically handling the plates. Examples of such are seen in the following works:

Portuguese Treasurer Damio De Goes: Cronica Do Felicissimo Rei D.Manuel. (1566). Jesuit Priest Fr. Francis Dionisio: "On the Christians of St. Thomas" (1578). Published in Documenta Indica. Vol XII. Fr. Wicki S.J. Augustinian Priest Fr. Antonio De Gouvea: Jornada do Arcebispo Goa Dom Frey Alexyo de Menezes. (1606). Jesuit Bishop Francisco Ros: MS.ADD. 9853. (1604). British Museum Library. Portuguese Historian Diogo Do Couto: Decadas da Asia. Decada XII. Book III. (1611).

Content of the plates According to the account of De Goes the plates contained social, economic, and religious rights given to Thomas of Cana by a local ruler and were written in three languages, namely "Chaldean, Malabar, and Arabic". The following summary of the plates was recorded by Archbishop Francis Ros in 1603–1604 according to an existing palm-leaf manuscript copy:

"Before the full moon, the same king Coquarangon being in Carnelur, there arrived in a ship Thomas Caneneo, a chief man, who had resolved to see the uttermost part of the East, and some men, seeing him as he arrived, went to inform the king. And the king himself came and saw and called said chief man Thomas and he disembarked and came before the king who spoke graciously to him; and to honor him he gave him in surname his own name, calling him Coquarangon Caneneo. And he received this honor from the king and went to rest in his place. And the king gave him the city of Magoderpatanam forever. And the said king, being in his great prosperity, went one day to hunt in the forest, and the same king surrounded the whole forest and he called in haste for Thomas, who came and stood before the king in a lucky hour, and the king questioned the soothsayer. And the king afterwards spoke to Thomas saying that he would build a city in that forest. And he answered to the king first making reverence and said: "I desire this forest for myself". And the king granted it to him and gave it forever. And at once, the next day he cleared the forest and cast his eyes on it in the same year, on the eleventh of April, and gave it as an inheritance to Thomas at the time and day aforesaid, in the King's name, who laid the first brick for the church and for the house of Thomas Caneneo, and made there a city for all (of them) and entered the church and there made prayer the same day. After these things, Thomas himself went to the king's palaces and offered him presents, and afterwards he asked the king to give that land to him and to his descendants; and he measured two hundred and sixty-four elephant cubits, and gave them to Thomas and his descendants for ever: and the same time seventy-two houses which immediately were erected there, and gardens, and trees with their enclosures, and with their paths and boundaries and inner yards. And he granted him seven kinds of musical instruments, and all the honors, and to speak and walk like a king and that at the weddings the women might give a certain signal with their finger to their mouth, and he granted him distinct weight, and to adorn the ground with cloths, and he granted them royal fans and to double the sandal (mark) on the arm, and a tent and a royal canopy in every part of the kingdom for ever, and besides five tributes to Thomas, and to his lineage, and to his confederates, for men, and for women, and for all his relatives, and to the children of his law for ever. The said king gave it in his name"

Witnesses:

Translation by Duperron

Translations of the Kollam Syrian Plates made by the Syrian Christian priest Ittimani in 1601 as well as the French Indologist Abraham Anquetil Duperron in 1758 both note that the fourth plate mentioned a brief of the arrival of Thomas of Cana.It is believed that this was a notation of the previous rights bestowed upon the Christians by Cheraman Perumal. The contemporary fourth plate however does not mention this paragraph and is believed to be a later copy. Scholar of Early Christian history Istavan Percvel theorizes that at one time the Kollam Syrian plates and the Thomas of Cana copper plates were re-engraved together.

Text of the Brief